Which Insurance company are you with?

[ralp2dam]

There was something on one of the current affairs shows last night about Coles now doing car & home insurance. I typed in my details on the website and found it saved me around $350. I will be looking into it further to see if its the real deal, although Paul Clitheroe reckoned it was comparable with all the other companies. I did one for my son's vehicle and that came out way over what he is currently paying so the savings may be only for drivers over 25. Might be worth checking out.

They are cheaper but don't cover you for the same things such as other company's like NRMA. The other things maybe be; windscreen, hire care and choose your own repairer etc etc. So whilst they may save you money obviously you need to compare apples with apples for your own needs.

[Ozram]

They are cheaper but don't cover you for the same things such as other company's like NRMA. The other things maybe be; windscreen, hire care and choose your own repairer etc etc. So whilst they may save you money obviously you need to compare apples with apples for your own needs.

The first two you mention were included. I think what the difference may be is that they don't cover items inside your car that may get nicked.

[Corey_R]

I cannot stress enough how much you guys need to read the FULL PDS. I mean seriously! More seriously than even reading the owners manual, lol.

You guys are saying things like "the policies are the same, except for excesses and stuff" (paraphrasing).

I haven't heard any of you say "the policies are the same except I'm not covered if I crash due to slipping on my own engine coolant." This quote is a SERIOUS QUOTE. I'm not making that up. But I'm also not going to tell you guys which of your PDS' that statement is in.

I had this argument with my sister in the past two weeks when she was going to save ~$200 by going with a company which wasn't NRMA (wasn't GIO or QBE or Allianz or one of the other good ones either). Lets just say, the number of "disclaimers" to avoid payouts for accidents which are not technically the fault of the driver/policy owner but which are not the fault of any potential other car was alarming to me, and even alarming to my little sister once I started reading some to her. Within 30 minutes she had cancelled the policy (during the cool-off period) and signed up with NRMA (RACV/RACQ for you non-NSWers), using the month to month option instead of one up.

Insurance companies are a business, they're there to make a profit, and sure, some are bound to be aiming for more profit than another. But when all things are added and subtracted at the end of the day, an insurance company needs to charge their customers more than what they have to pay out. So make sure you read the PDS word for word to understand where you're potentially not covered by this wonderful insurance that is consistantly saving everyone hundreds!


(note... even between the good companies, one year they can suck for an individual, another year they can be good... I seem to have to bounce between NRMA and Shannons etc every couple years to keep my premium "normal". i.e. one of them will push it up 20% one year, so I'll go to the other for a year or two, same thing happens, swap, lol... that's not the "savings" I'm saying to be weary of).

[srl]

Yup, you're right, Corey. Need to read PDS. AAMI offer a 14 day cooling off period, so will check out options. In relation tonyour comments, though, I did indicate if I went with a lower excess, premium would be about $900. Premium cover includes windscreen excess waiver and hire car. But slipping on coolant? Sheesh! PDS never makes for fun read, but looks like I'm doing some light reading tonight. NRMA did seem to have reasonable premium, but my past experience with NRMA and AAMI (admittedly 10-12 years ago now) left me with the impression they were quite similar in relation to speed of payout, quality of repairs etc. In fact, I remember AAMI were pretty easy to deal with when some kids decided to use my wife's then 3 week old car's roof as a trampoline ...

[markwid]

Yeah, Corey's warning is right on. I checked out Coles Insurance PDS carefully and it is not comparable to NRMA. It is cheaper because it is a lesser product - more situations disclaimers to avoid coverage

[Bel]

Western Australia seems to have cheaper full comp insurance from my experience - compared to Victoria.
Here, through SGIO, I pay $422 inlcuding windscreen replacement (which is an extra $66), excess of $500. It is only market value on the car (2010 118Tsi) but seeing as it has new car replacement for 2 years I figure why put a fixed value on it.
To be honest I haven't read the PDS but with my previous car (insured with SGIO) the two times I got rear ended on the freeway the repairs were done within three weeks.

[srl]

Well, I just read both the AAMI and NRMA PDS statements, which shows what a small life I really have! To be honest, the variations are minor and relatively insignificant, although I expect for some of you my 'insignificant' is your 'WTF?!' NRMA let's you choose your own repairer, AAMI does not but will let you nominate a repairer to provide a quote. I know they will select the cheapest, but expect their authorisation means the repairer meets industry requirements. Against that, AAMI guarantees to use genuine parts if the car is under warranty; I could not find any reference in the NRMA PDS to what parts are used, but that could be my poor scanning. NRMA gives you up to $50 per day for car rental; while AAMI provides a 4 door auto with air conditioning. Not sure what a car costs to hire, but AAMI potentially is better. AAMI doesn't cover contents unless you're more than 100km from home; NRMA covers up to $500 value but excludes standard, options or accessories (eg. I assume the iPod dock), cash or mobile phone. Still can't find reference to slipping on anti coolant, although NRMA doesn't cover incidental damage related to fluid leakage; is this what you mean? Oh, and here's something I never considered: if your car is stolen, you have to pay the excess in event of loss or damage, because the insurance company can't find the perpetrator. It's logical, but a surprise. So, per the comment made earlier - these guys are in business to make a profit, and there are a range of ways you can be disappointed if you crash, get crashed in to or the victim of crime. Might just lock her up and catch the bus!

[Corey_R]

Yeah, AAMI vs NRMA in their repairers is pretty significant. "Nomination for quote" vs "choice of repairer". I did have AAMI when I used to own a toyota, and I was lucky enough to be able to get the repairer that I wanted, but only because their repairer was SO INCOMPETENT that the quote was obviously missing some significant consideration for damage which I was able to argue with the AAMI assessor about so they had no choice but to award it to my repairer... dispite them being $2000 more expensive (~$7k vs ~$5k)

NRMA excludes "Standard, options or accessories" because they cover them in the "agreed value". Which is what's making NRMA "modification friendly" at the moment. You don't have to list what mods you've done, as long as the car is "road worthy" they cover whatever is attached to the car on the day of the incident, within the limits of the agreed value.

Incidental damage related to fluid leakage I take to mean things such as soft drink leaks and ruins your seats.

The not paying for repairs due to slipping on leaking coolant and oil from your own car is thankfully not in AAMI or NRMA but is a legitimate statement from the PDS of another company mentioned in this thread and others on this forum.

Anyway, you can only really compare the "value" of each of these insurances after reading the PDS. Good to see someone has

[MiiLos]

I signed up for full comp. RACV insurance last night for my GTI. They were by far the cheapest, and like Corey mentioned the fact they are modification friendly was good. I decided to ensure for agreed value of $52k.

FYI - Youi quote me $5.5k! I almost fell of my chair when the sales rep said it to me on the phone, even she was shocked.

[JPanDAX]

A thought! How does a mod like an ECU flash or other performance mod affect insurance, Especially if it is not necessarily condoned by the car manufacturer? I.e. An APR Stage 1,2,3 upgrade? Do you have to tell them? Does it affect premium or will they even insure?

Interesting!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk